


Escape

by laissemoidanser



Category: True Detective
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Fantasy, M/M, Male Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 08:38:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3128156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laissemoidanser/pseuds/laissemoidanser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Our detectives find themselves in the world that is about to end. Nobody knows why and when it's going to happen but Rust holds the key to a possible solution.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Escape

**Author's Note:**

> It was supposed to be a short porny ficlet but I ended up carried away into fantasy universe for some reason. Really, when it comes to True Detective, one never knows what the end result going to be :)

_“Walked so close to the edge, closer than ever. And lost it again. Desperation ceased me. But He came and stopped me. He was angry at first but than gentle and He lulled me to sleep. In my sleep He came to me again to comfort me so that I would wake up anew and would be able to smile. He is the void inside me, He is the one to fill it. At the cost of the whole world.”_

“Some twisted love letter maybe?” Marty casts a quick look at the piece of paper in Rust’s hands, than looks back at the highway ahead of them. He grips the steering wheel and shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

“Well. It’s all we’ve got so far” replies Rust, folding the paper and sticking it into his ledger. “It reads like play of someone’s imagination. I doubt anyone would’ve paid slightest attention to it but given the circumstances. Man, the world’s finally going down”.

“Fucking chaos”, Marty comments as they pass a cluster of cars and a group of men fighting in the middle of the road. Rust lights up his cigarette and inhales deeply. “Look at them, it ain’t normal. Rust. You think sending Maggie and the girls to Alaska was good idea?”

“I tell you, Marty. Right now it’s the safest fucking place there is. We’ll go after them soon as we’re finished here. Just one more try. Promise”

“I’d better go after them right fucking now. Really, what we’ve got here? Those military guys taking over the station. People going crazy with panic. No directions to follow if you ask me”, Marty shakes his head and sighs.

They drive in silence. Outside their car landscape keeps changing, colors fade as the dusk hour approaches and stars go out to parade in the sky. Rust smokes one cigarette after another, opens and reopens his ledger, keeps making notes and small sketches.

“So, our priority is to find that perpetrator, right?” Marty asks, maybe for the fourth time that day. He realizes he’d already asked the question before but somehow hearing Rust answer it makes him feel better.  He needs to cling to reality of things.

“Mhmm”, Rust concedes, dragging on a cigarette. Marty watches him from the corner of his eye. Rust inhales smoke like it’s the air he breathes, like oxygen he’s suddenly deprived of. Marty races on the red light and returns his full attention to the road. “Sometimes I wonder, Marty. Are they stars in the sky or is it dizziness of vague and fatal light? Are we gonna burn like them soon? So that someone somewhere could say how beautiful the starry sky is?”

Something pulls inside of Marty, he watches the road and it blurs behind the veil in his eyes.

“Shut the fuck up” he mutters and they drive on.

 

***

 

Next day it’s sun and wind and the road again.

“Weather’s getting worse”, Rust notices. It’s getting dark too early, this time he is behind the wheel and ahead of them dark clouds gather above the horizon.

“Are we getting there soon?” Marty asks drowsily from the passenger seat. 

“Few more hours”

“Goddamn weather”, Marty comments.

Soon it’s almost completely dark and they’re driving in an endless heavy torrent of rain.

“Rust. There’s no fucking road. Can’t see a fucking thing”, Marty remarks, trying to outshout the storm.

“I fucking noticed, Marty”.

“Just don’t tell me there ain’t a single place to stay in this lost middle of no-fucking-where “.

Fortunately, the stars are merciful that day and soon they notice the long-awaited lights on the right side of the road. Parking lot is clogged with cars completely - it looks like they are not the only ones overtaken by the storm.

“Fuck”, Marty curses as they enter the motel, soaked to the bone, although it took no more than fifteen seconds to get here from the car.

“Two rooms for the night”, Marty shouts to the groggy owner.

“One room left”, the owner replies nonchalantly.

“You fucking kidding me?” Marty rages, smashing the reception stand with his fist.

The owner shrugs and keeps reading his newspaper calmly.

“We'll take it”, Rust puts the money on the counter and they receive the last key.

“Could go look around for something else”, Marty keeps boiling over as they climb the stairs.

“ In this kind of weather? Marty, you won’t get far”.

“Then I’d rather sleep in the car”.

“Go ahead, I'm not going to fucking hold you against your will. I’ve told you, thousand times. No need to follow me around. You should’ve gone be with your family by now”.

“You’re an asshole you know that? I leave you here and you gonna fuck everything up, yourself included.  Fuck no. You ain’t doing this without me. And there ain’t gonna be no apocalypse while I’m watching your back.”

“Shit. In all my born days I haven’t been in a more idiotic situation. What people gonna think of us?” he adds as they walk through the long corridor of old poorly painted doors with worn numbers on them.

Rust does not dignify this last remark with an answer.

 The room is completely dark. Electricity was turned off for safety reasons. Not only were they deprived of light, but also cut off from the media channels and any news reports concerning the state of the storm outside, concerning the state of the outside world. God, who knows, maybe it is the beginning of the end.  Now they have nothing to do but sit and wait. 

“Are we getting there soon?” Marty asks again, trying to see anything in the darkness outside. Then again, turning his eyes back inside he can’t see much either. Only the shape of Rust, moving across the room.

“Hard to say at this point. But I don’t think we’ve advanced much since the last time you asked”, Rust takes off his shirt. “I'll sleep on the couch”, he states, removing his pants.

Marty looks around, but Rust already disappeared into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Marty sighs and sits down to the couch near the window. He hides his face in his hands and looks like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. And he is, constantly thinking of the choices he made, the choices that led him here. When he abandoned his family, his girls, to go with Rust, what was he thinking? Rust said he wanted to know why the world was ending but Rust has nothing to lose. But if Marty stayed with them, for some reason, he knows he would feel regret nevertheless. He is full of doubts and those doubts will always tear him apart from inside.

”Madness outside”, Marty mutters against the pounding of the rain, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He exhales, trying to calm the pounding of his heart.

“There’s still some hot water left, you should go take a shower”, soon Rust appears from the bathroom in nothing but a towel on his hips. Marty nods, casting his eyes up Rust’s chest and down to his legs. He is all wound up and angry but Rust’s calmness soothes him down.

He showers and comes to his senses a little, almost thankful for this emergency stay.

When he gets out, Rust is sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at the same piece of paper, reading it again with a flashlight, still in his towel.

“Read it again, will you?” Marty asks. As if he didn’t know it by heart by now. He sits down on a couch and listens to Rust’s voice, slowly dragging every syllable.

_“Walked so close to the edge, closer than ever…”,_ he repeats when Rust finished _._ “What does this mean? What she wants to say by this?”

“Don’t know. Maybe she is depressed or something. Came close to commit suicide”

“Yeah, but what if she means it like, literally? Like, to the edge of the cliff “

“Makes no sense, man. In any way, sounds like a suicide case to me.”

“You think she’s dead?”

“Will it make you feel better if I tell you I think not?”

Marty shrugs his shoulders.

“Marty, talk to me, man. Look, I know it’s hard for you now. But what’s done is done. You’ve made your choice. You should stand by it”.

“It’s not that, Rust”, Marty motions toward the window and bites his lower lip. “God, I wish I could talk like you. It’s just…looking at the world, now, you realize that you’re nothing, nobody. You can’t do shit to change things. It’s like, I’ve always been stuck in my own little world. So quiet that sometimes its silence resounds off the walls of my existence and fills my mind… with dread. And now this dread spills all over and there’s no way to stop it”.

“You telling me, you’re afraid of thunder, Marty?” Rust stands up from the bed and comes closer to the couch. Eyes got used to the dark, Marty can tell he is smiling.

“Like hell I am”, Marty starts to protest then gives up, “Shit, maybe I am. A little bit. Never liked them storms when I was little”.

Rust sits next to him, still smiling with those stupid dimples.  He looks straight into Marty’s eyes and this time the smile lights up his own.

“You need to relax”, he says quietly, locking his eyes on Marty’s chin. The air is static enough around them to lighten up the room again.

“How’s that?” Marty asks. Rustin smells with something sweet, probably that cheap soap from the motel bathroom. Marty doesn’t care. Rust smells like home. But before Marty has time to figure out what's what, Rust tugs at his pants cautiously until he pulls them down completely. He leans over him gently, kneels down.

“Rust ...?”

 “Spread your legs, will you?” Rust whispers. Marty thinks to stop him, but instead he listens and just goes with it, runs his hand through Rust’s hair and pulls him closer.

“Jesus ...”, he gasps when Rust takes him into his mouth. Marty closes his eyes for a moment but then can’t help looking down, at his lips, his cheekbones, his eyelashes. With one swift expert move Rust takes him all in, almost to the base, and Marty is ready to come right there and then. It is too good. His fingers tighten in Rust’s hair, forcing him to pull back. It might be painful, but there’s haze in Marty’s head. No thoughts left. Rust follows his direction obediently, his lips slide back with a wet sound. His tongue follows the lengths of Marty’s cock, curls around its head.

“Do not stop”, Marty whispers hotly and Rust’s eyes widen, lock with his own. At that moment Marty would have given a lot to bring back the lights. To see those pale cheeks cover with blush barely noticeable. “Do not stop, baby...”

Rust grabs his hips, performs that same sweet torture again, Marty watches as his cock disappears completely in his mouth, going deeper and deeper, bumping into Rust’s cheek. “What are you doing to me? For heaven’s sake... look at you “, Marty runs his free hand over Rust’s face, pulling him closer. Rust is staring at him. Marty hips thrust forward on their own accord, even deeper into the heat of Rust’s throat. Must be tough, but he takes Marty in with no complain. Soon Marty can’t sit still anymore and just tries not to make movements too sudden while thrusting inside.

“Rust, I ... I can’t ... “, he warns, but Rust only closes his eyes and opens them again, urging him to keep going.

“Damn it...”,  Marty closes his eyes, throws his head back and lets the waves of orgasm take control of his body. His hips rock forward roughly several times, pushing further, further and he comes, caught off guard. Rust patiently swallows around him, taking it all. Marty drops his eyes on him, admiring his concentrated look, as if his whole life is focused on not missing a single drop. The muscles in Marty’s abdomen finally relax, he lets go of Rust’s hair and collapses wearily on his hands to keep himself from falling on the couch. Rust licks him one more time gently, causing shivers to run through his oversensitive body and pulls away from him. Marty reaches out to him.

“Come here “, he calls, ready to repay for an unexpected favor. But Rust only shakes his head, standing up and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Nah, this something just for you”, he says.

“You…you take the bed then. Think I can’t even walk right now”, Marty says, feeling his legs shaking.

Rust walks over to the bed. His towel slid down to his hips, almost falling off completely. But Marty is too blissfully exhausted to exploit all the arising possibilities. He just crawls back to the pillow and falls into a deep sleep.

 

***

 

Morning greets Marty with bright sunlight, a hot mug of coffee and a freshly made sandwich.

“You suffering from insomnia or what?” he says, rubbing his eyes. Rust only nods, concentrating on buttoning up his shirt, cigarette in his mouth. “Coffee in bed. Okay. That’s really nice of you, Rust. Who would have thought you’re such a romantic”.

Rust smiles, never taking the cigarette out and walks over to Marty.

“You sleep well tonight?” he asks.

Marty steals a playful look at him.

“I did”, he admits.

“Good, cause we’ve got a long day ahead of us”.

“Let me”, Marty reaches out to Rust, asking for his cigarette. He takes it between two fingers and takes a drag. Starts coughing and returns the cigarette back.  “How do you even smoke this shit?”

“Eat your breakfast and get ready, it's time to leave soon”, says Rust, watching Marty with a hint of tender irony in his deep blue eyes. Marty doesn’t know what makes him happier – good weather outside, or that sparkle in his partner’s eyes.

 

For a few hours they drive through the desert country and wild fields until finally they arrive at first location. Rather difficult to call it civilization - a wasteland, uncultivated land for miles around, here and there, crowded with houses that look more like transportable cabins. Almost all the cabins have stilts – seems like this place might be constantly at risk of being flooded with water. No fences, no alarm signals or surveillance cameras. Apparently, the locals have nothing to steal.

“That’s it? That’s the place?” says Marty. “Sorry to break it to you Rust, but your sense of smell let you down this time”.

“Shut up, Marty, this is the place. Remember what I told you? The person we are looking for. Her name’s Hester. She can be very dangerous, so be on guard”.

“Yeah, yeah, I do. Thanks for reminding me how to do my damn job.”

Rust gives him a meaningful look. They get out of the car and walk along the cabins. Clouds delay the sky again; cold damp wind is stirring the yellowed grass and whistling along the plain of land. Fog gathered all around them so that they can’t see far ahead.  Marty is holding his tie with one hand, keeping his gun ready in the other, he looks at Rust now and then to make sure he doesn’t disappear from his sight. Soon, Rust gives him a sign, pointing to the cabin on his right. Marty nods and they split. Marty walks in through the back door, cocks his gun. Inside, everything is decorated with simple wooden board, floor creaking treacherously under his foot. Cautiously, step by step, Marty moves forward, afraid to even blink one more time. His attention is caught by the framed picture of Hester on the dresser – a young red-haired woman next to a tall blond officer. She is beautiful and he is very handsome, smiling a bit but his gaze is tired and stern, not unlike that he spots on Rust from time to time. “ _To Mr. Erwin”_ says the caption under the photo. And who is that? Marty gets distracted and the next moment he is knocked with a heavy blow on the head. His legs buckle; he swings toward the wall and slides to the floor, without dropping his gun. He takes aim, but his vision is a smudge of colors and the one who caused him damage is too fuzzy to get. Yet, Marty is able to realize that the attacker has him at the point of the shotgun. Marty is ready to give up his life, when suddenly a shot rings out. The one in front of him shakes, groans, but takes aim at Marty again. Two more gun shots and the man collapses on the floor, dead. Vision returns to Marty, and he sees a man in front of him, blood gushing from the wounds in his arm and his side. Rust appears from around the corner.

“Marty, you're alright?!” he shouts without taking his eyes off the corpse on the floor.

“Yeah, I’ll live...” Marty weakly replies. “The fuck was that?”

“Don’t know. Don’t know what’s going on anymore”, Rust helps Marty get on his feet again. Marty is unsteady on his legs, leaning into Rust heavily. “Everyone’s left. Not a single soul in this goddamn place, Marty. Except for this sick motherfucker. Are you okay? Goddammit, he got you.”

Rust leads Marty to a chair, helps him sit down and goes to the kitchen to get some water from the kettle. He spills some of it on the towel and hurries back to Marty, turns his face towards the light from the window carefully and mops the blood from his temple.

“Gonna be fine, nothing serious. Thanks God.”

“Those men on the pictures are the ones you worked for in the past. Right? You were gonna…meet with them here?”

“That’s right, Marty. They are military organization. Same as many when I was working for them years back. But now their policy changed with those two in charge – Erwin and Jack. I suppose they’re the only ones to know what is really going on in the world. Was hoping to catch up with them, but we’re late. They’ve already abandoned this place. It’s okay though, we can cope just fine on our own”.

“What about that girl and her letter?”

“Ah. They are looking for her. I heard they managed to establish contact with her. She’s the key to everything, Marty”

“I saw her on the picture with that man you mentioned”.

“Yeah, her and Erwin were good friends, I suppose. Till this shit started. God, far as I know, she is the one who caused it.”

Marty gasps with pain when Rust touches his wound with the towel.

“Sorry, man”, he says softly. “You okay?”

“Given the circumstances. Dead body behind you, fucking end of the world, loads of new information I have never heard from you…I guess I’m pretty fine, Rust”.

“You followed me here without even knowing why. I was waiting when you gonna break and turn away. But you didn’t. You either too stubborn or too reckless…”

“Or either I’m recklessly in love”, says Marty placing his hand on Rust’s shoulder and squeezing it gently.

Rust gets silent and Marty sees him clearly now, warm water and blood streaming down his face. Rust watches him closely, blinks slowly and looks away at the window, his eyes are brightly blue against its dim white light. Marty places his hand on the back of his neck, pulls Rust closer and Rust complies, pressing his nose to Marty’s cheek, he kisses the corner of his mouth. “Don’t ever leave me”, he whispers, trailing wet kisses to Marty’s jaw. “Don’t ever leave me, man”.

Marty ruffles his hair and pulls him into one long kiss, discovering his own feelings from deep inside. And in the end, they turned out to be the only reason why he wouldn’t let Rust go all this way alone. Without him, Rust would have nothing to lose. With him by his side, Rust would have everything to live for because Marty loves him just as much.

Then the earth trembles and a siren alarm goes off in a distance.

“The fuck?” Marty whispers in astonishment akin to fear, refusing to acknowledge what is happening. Not now.

Several horrifying seconds pass.

“We need to get to the car, Marty”, Rust says quietly, though it’s almost visible, the realization creeping across his face. “We need to get to the car, now!”

They are on their feet, they are deaf and blind with sheer panic clenching at their souls. They stumble to the door, slipping on the pool of blood, running through the fog and cold wind, the grass clambering their feet, slowing them down.  Finally, finally they get to the car and get inside, small space is filled with their heavy breathing and the sounds of their pounding hearts. At least they hear it above everything else.

“If…if we go back, there is no way we get anywhere in time”, Rust says, his voice trembling. “Our only chance. Is to go forward.”

“Step on it. We’re as good as dead anyway.”

The car starts and they drive forward leaving everything behind and in front of them there is only fear of unknown hiding behind the white wall of the fog. Further, further, till suddenly there is nothing . “Shit!”, Marty grasps at Rust’s shoulder  reflexively and Rust slams on the brakes. They freeze few meters before the edge of the cliff. The road and the village disappeared completely into the nothingness . Now, as the fog scatters, Marty and Rust look in horror at the endless chasm opening up in front of them. There is no end of it, no beginning, no bottom.

“What is this?” Marty says “Where is everything?”

He can’t help it, he gets out of the car, comes to the edge and looks down but still sees no end, only darkness. Rust is there, right behind him, his hand on his back. The siren keeps whaling and the horizon blazes with red, all around. Marty gasps and fells to his knees, last hope taken away from him with the merciless hand of fate.

“Look”, Rust points into the distance. Somewhere in the middle of the chasm a huge tower stands, overtopping the void in the earth, there is no road leading to it though, like all the ground fell around but that one tower remained standing somehow. Marty’s on his knees and he doesn’t care about anything anymore, the tower reminds him of a lighthouse and the air in the void – black as the sea. Marty is scared and leans back into Rust’s legs. Rust’s looking down at him, puts his hand on Marty’s head. He’s calm and fearless, and he’s the only one that matters.

“Hey, Marty”, he says, his voice deep and reassuring. The red gathers around them, approaching fast. “We’re close. We can still go, you know. Over the edge and further. You won’t have to do a thing if you don’t want to.”

Marty nods silently then and stands up. They get back in the car and this time there is no hurry. Marty wonders how quickly he accepted his fate. But he is not alone in this. Rust puts his hand on a gear stick an holds the steering wheel firmly. Marty puts his hand over Rust’s and sighs, his mouth pressed together in a thin line.

“Now close your eyes”, Rust says and Marty tightens his grip on his hand, “And fall into the dark. I’m here, beside you. Always will be. We will like it there”. Marty almost smiles when Rust pushes the stick and the car breaks forward, leaping off the cliff. They’re freefalling into the dark for several eternal seconds, holding hands, and then the car crashes into something, something soft and yielding, it bounces a little, but then moves up and gathers speed. Marty opens his eyes and looks around, they are moving across the void, everything is burning on its edges, far away and around, but they are not falling, they are making it forward, in the direction of the tower.

“Tell me it’s real. Tell me it’s all real”, Rust says again and ahain, his eyes are wide open, bewildered and scared as he looks around, his hand slips and the car starts to pull to the left, driving out of the invisible road. Marty catches the wheel, and steers them right.

“Go, Rust. Just don’t let go”, he says, smiling. He feels crazy, thinks, maybe they’re dead already, if they aren’t he doesn’t know anything anymore. And he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t care.

 “It is real, baby”, he adds, and they’re closing in on the tower on a full speed, it’s huge and dark and going up endlessly, getting lost in clouds of smoke above. The car stumbles on the “road” and lands to its foot. The engine dies and they sit in silence, their lives passing before their eyes in specks of light, each speck passes by and flies away, disappearing forever, leaving no trace behind, reflecting for a moment in the starry sky above and in the black sea below. Fire is ablaze around them but they are unreachable, huge gates before them open up, inviting to step inside.

“Where is the end then?” asks Rust.

“There is no end”, Marty replies, “Just the beginning. _”_

_At the cost of the whole world._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
